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Published: September 6th 2010
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Kelvin Grove Art Gallery
just an example of the brilliant sculptures in their collection We headed into Glasgow and were met with a big old dirty town, it was great! A relief after the manicured Lakes region. We stayed in the West End which has recently been 'coolified', i.e. big warehouses were converted to apartments and funky little coffee shops are springing up everywhere. I loved it, as it reminded me of Smith street back in Melbourne, or Brunswick street as it was 20 years ago. Everyone who trots around Glasgow does so with a certain air of coolness that cannot be obtained unless you are a Glaswegian, but somehow never managed to come across as pretentious; I really liked it.
Glasgow has recently being touted as a city of “art and culture” (again more Melbourne vibes), and is home to some fantastic art galleries. Even if you're not much of a gallery person, I doubt if anyone could have not loved the Kelvin Grove Art Gallery and Museum which is home to some fantastic pictures, as well as very kid-friendly exhibitions. The only disappointment was when we went to see Dali's 'Christ of St. John of the Cross' but it was on loan to an exhibition 😞 However we loved the place so
Welcome to the Highlands!
Beautiful highland scenery was seen throughout our trip to Inveraray much that we even went twice!
Next we were off to Inveraray, which is the stomping ground of the highland Scotts Clan Campbell. Here's the thing about Clan Campbell.....they are not very well liked due to their consistent support of the English crown during times of Scottish nationalism. The most notorious example of this is the Massacre at Glencoe. Clan Campbell representatives went to Clan McDonald, claiming that they came in peace and enjoyed their hospitality for 11 days. Then before daybreak they crept up on the McDonald villagers, slaughtered them all and set the villages alight. Pretty vicious, but that seems to be the way with most highland clans, as there are countless tales of clan rivalry and old grudges, and it seems they never really stopped warring until they were united under English rule.
Inveraray is a gorgeous 18th century planned village that was built for two reasons: 1) to service the nearby castle owned by the Earl of Argyle, and 2) to keep the commoners off the Earl of Argyles land. The Earl of Argyle, was in fact, the head of Clan Campbell. So it seems as if siding with the English all those years
Clan Campbell Castle
A bit ostentatious perhaps? The current Duke of Argyle himself still lives there with his young family ago was quite the cunning plan. But the commoners didn't fare too badly, as the town is very pretty and sweet. It is painted entirely in the black and white and is very elegant.
Having owned Lentil for over a month we were finally ready to try a bit of free camping! Free camping is self-explanatory, and basically means parking anywhere, for free, and staying the night, which means no pitch fees and no electricity hook-up fees....in fact, it means no electricity at all. It also means no toilet and no shower, so this was going to take a bit of adjusting to, not so much for Nick, but certainly for moi! The toilet situation was combated with the Thetford Porta Potti 345 which we inherited with the purchase of Lentil. Initially I had declared that the Porta Potti 345 was disgusting and should be disposed of immediately, but found that while my sentiments remain unchanged, it was actually quite handy in emergencies while free camping. Showers were provided by my Mum who would occasionally sneak us into her B&B or hotel. But too be honest, free camping did require us to reconsider our need to wash everyday.
Inveraray
The black and white town looking ever so elegant at dusk....this was our view from our free parking spot! We hit the jackpot at Inveraray and found a spot right on the banks of Loch Fyne, just down the road from where Mum and Phoebe were staying. We had stunning views and the light that reflected off the water at dusk was just stunning. All this for the royal sum of $0! It was great (apart from the toilet and shower situation) and was good preparation for our upcoming time in mainland Europe (where free camping is the norm).
On the way out of Inveraray we stopped briefly for some fish and chips at Oban, a popular seaside port on the west coast. We found a fish and chip shop which was recommended by Rick Steins (BBC celebrity chef) as “the best fish and chips in Scotland”, ordered some food and sat by the harbour to eat them. I can't speak for the fish (which I'm told was devine) but the chips were to DIE for. I never, ever have had such good chips on all my life!
From Oban we left the west coast and headed inland towards the heart of the higlands. We had decided to bypass the Loch Ness and therefore the Loch Ness Monster “Nessie”, as we really had had our fill of busy traffic and novelty gift shops in the Lakes region.
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Sharleen Miller
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Thanks heaps for updating my email and good job with the blogs. Can't believe how dedicated you're being with them, full of great stuff too. Excellent job! Thinking of you all often, Shar